Police: No charges in death of 2-year-old that truck backed over
Investigators have completed their review of the circumstances surrounding the death of a 2-year-old boy who was struck by a pickup as it backed out of a driveway early Saturday evening in Planeview.
“Unfortunately, this looks like a tragic accident,” Wichita police Sgt. Nikki Woodrow said.
The boy was struck in the 2400 block of South Roosevelt by a 24-year-old relative’s F-150 pickup at about 5:45 p.m. Saturday. He was taken to Via Christi Hospital St. Joseph in a private vehicle and was pronounced dead at 6:32 p.m.
There was no evidence of drugs or alcohol playing a role in the incident, Woodrow said. No charges will be filed, she said.
Both the boy and the driver lived at the house where the accident occurred.
Woodrow said motorists should be aware of their surroundings when preparing to back out of a driveway, particularly if young children are nearby.
“Walk around your car before you get into it,” she said. “Be aware of what’s around you and what can be around you.”
Young children can be unpredictable with their behavior, Woodrow said.
“You’ve just got to watch them close,” she said. “Unfortunately, this was an accident that happened, and other people can learn from it.”
At least 50 children are backed over each week around the country because the driver could not see them, said Amber Rollins, a spokeswoman for KidsAndCars.org, a national nonprofit organization dedicated to keeping children safe in and around vehicles.
“We were devastated to hear” of the boy’s death, Rollins said in an e-mail response to questions. Backovers are predictable and preventable, she said.
Saturday’s fatal backover is the first in Wichita since May 2008, when a 2-year-old boy was struck and killed at a home near 13th and West Street.
In an average year, 232 children are killed and 13,000 are injured due to backovers, according to the nonprofit organization. Most of the victims are toddlers less than 2 years old, and about 70 percent of the accidents have a relative of the child behind the wheel.
Back-up cameras will be required on all vehicles as of May 2018, according to the organization, and rear-view cameras can be installed on any vehicle.
Stan Finger: 316-268-6437, @StanFinger
Safety Tips
▪ Always walk around and behind a vehicle prior to moving it.
▪ Know where your children are. Make sure they move away from your vehicle to a place where they are in full view before moving the car. Verify that another adult is directly supervising children before moving your vehicle.
▪ Install a rear-view camera, back-up sensors and/or additional mirrors on your vehicles. Use these devices in addition to looking around and behind your vehicle carefully to detect if anything is in your path before backing.
▪ Make sure children hold hands with an adult in parking lots at ALL times. If you have multiple children and not enough hands, create a hand-holding train or fasten the younger children into a stroller and make sure everyone stays together.
▪ Teach children that “parked” vehicles might move. Make sure they understand that the driver might not be able to see them, even if they can see the driver.
▪ Teach children to never play in, around or behind a vehicle. The driveway is not a safe place to play.
▪ Ask an adult passenger to stand outside the vehicle and watch for children or animals as you back out. Ensure they are a safe distance away from the vehicle so that they are not in any danger.
▪ Steep inclines and large SUVs, vans and trucks can add to the difficulty of seeing behind a vehicle.
▪ Keep toys, bikes and other sports equipment out of the driveway.
▪ Trim landscaping around the driveway to ensure drivers can see the sidewalk, street and pedestrians clearly when backing out. Pedestrians also need to be able to see a vehicle pulling out of the driveway.
▪ Install extra locks on doors inside the home high enough so children cannot reach them and toddlers cannot slip outside on their own.
▪ Roll down the driver’s side window when backing so you can hear if someone is warning you to stop.
Source: KidsAndCars.org
This story was originally published April 18, 2016 at 12:50 PM with the headline "Police: No charges in death of 2-year-old that truck backed over."